Sec. 1036. Restriction on use of certain funds pending solicitation of bids for Western Pacific dry dock
1,028 words·~5 min read·
/bill/115/hr/2810/rh/section-1036·A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
Congress makes the following findings: Following closure of the Department of the Navy ship repair facility in Guam in 1997 following the Base Realignment and Closure round of 1995, operation of the facility was turned over to a private company. While streamlining operations, resulting in savings to the Navy of approximately $38,000,000 each year, the company was able to maintain the depot-level capabilities of the facility with dry-docking capability that had existed in Apra Harbor since World War II.
From 1997 to 2012, the private operator successfully performed 28 major overhauls with dry-dockings of Navy, Military Sealift Command, and Coast Guard vessels, 27 mid-term availabilities, as well as the emergency dry-docking of USS San Francisco (SSN-711) after the nuclear powered submarine collided with a seamount off the coast of Guam in 2005. While the privately owned dry-dock, Machinist, was undergoing upgrades and refurbishment in 2013, the Navy announced that it would split the long-standing depot-level capability in Guam into two pieces, awarding an initial contract for pier-side ship repair, to be followed by a contract for dry-dock ship repair.
At this time, the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, including the Delegate from Guam, as well as the Governor of Guam, objected to this plan, and a conditional agreement was made wherein the Navy committed to restoring dry-docking capabilities expeditiously following issuance of the pier-side contract. Despite repeated requests from the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, the Delegate from Guam, and the Governor of Guam over the past four years, the Secretary of the Navy has failed to issue the dry-dock contract.
The Navy conducted a business case analysis to assess options for a dry-docking capability in Guam in 2014 and agreed to provide a copy of the report to Congress upon completion. The draft business case analysis was provided to the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives on March 3, 2016, but a final document was not produced. The draft business case analysis evaluated 200 potential options for restoring a dry-docking capability in Guam, recommending seven potential courses of action, with estimated costs ranging from $324,000,000 to $398,000,000 over a 50-year life cycle.
The business case analysis concluded that any of these options are significant savings when compared with the cost of not having a dry-docking capability in Guam, which exceeds $700,000,000 over a 50-year period. The Navy has removed machinery and equipment needed to perform major overhauls from the former ship repair facility, and shifted ship repair work previously performed in Guam to various foreign locations in the Western Pacific. The total cost of Navy ship repair contracts in Guam have gone from $45,00,000 in 2010 to $16,000,000 in 2016.
As a result of Navy actions over the past five years, the number of skilled workers engaged in ship repair in Guam has been reduced from a combined total of approximately 550 at three ship-repair companies in Guam to the current level of 150. Due to this degraded workforce and equipment capabilities, the Navy is now forced to rely almost exclusively on foreign ship repair instead at a time when the Committee believes tensions and threats of crisis in the Western Pacific can put access to foreign shipyards at risk.
Navy leadership has long acknowledged the importance of a depot-level, dry-docking capability in Guam, as evidenced by the following: Robust depot-level ship repair capability in Guam is a matter of strategic importance and remains an operational necessity because ships of the 7th Fleet have high operational tempo and experience vast distances between repair facilities. (Letter from the Commander of the Pacific Fleet to the Governor of Guam, dated February 15, 2013). We must maintain a viable ship maintenance capability in Guam to include dry-docking in support of operations and contingency plans (OPLANs and CONPLANs) and the U.S.
Navy rebalance to the Pacific. Guam is a strategic in-theater location for depot-level ship maintenance on sovereign U.S. territory. This is a significant factor given that commercial dry docks available in foreign countries considered friendly to the United States may become unavailable to SEVENTH Fleet ships in time of crisis or war. Availability of CPF ships would be stressed if assets are required to dry dock in CONUS due to the non-availability of a secure dry docking capability in the Western Pacific.
Dry-docking in Guam is a critical component of depot-level ship repair. The capability must be maintained and regularly exercised so that a capability and expertise are available to support ships of the SEVENTH Fleet in peace and war. (Letter from the Commander of the Pacific Fleet to the Chief of Naval Operations, dated February 7, 2014). On February 24, 2016, in testimony before the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, Admiral Harry Harris, Commander of the United States Pacific Command, affirmed that he continues to view robust ship repair capabilities as a matter of strategic importance and an operational priority for United States Pacific Fleet.
The Navy currently has four fast-attack nuclear submarines homeported in Guam. The Navy homeports submarine squadrons at seven locations in the United States, each of which has a dry-docking capability, with the exception of Guam. The Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives believes that dry-docking capability in Guam is a strategic requirement and a cost-effective means of ensuring the Forward Deployed Fleet has depot-level repair capabilities at a United States port in the Western Pacific.
Amounts were authorized to be appropriated in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 ( Public Law 114–328 ) and appropriated in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 ( Public Law 115–31 ) for funds be applied to chartering a dry dock to meet fleet maintenance requirements in the Western Pacific. Not more than 75 percent of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available for the Office of the Secretary of the Navy may be obligated or expended until the Secretary submits to Congress notice that a request for proposals has been issued to solicit bids for the chartering of a dry dock in the Western Pacific that satisfies the minimum requirements for heavy ship depot-level repair.
Connectionstraces to 2
Traces to 2 documents
Citation graph
cites case law
Sec. 1036
Restriction on use of certain funds pending solicitation of bids for Western Pacific dry dock
Cites 2Cited by 0 across 0 sources